Covers for dust mop heads



Sept. 10, 1968 c. N. GRANVILLE ET AL 3,400,420

COVERS FOR DUST MOP HEADS Filed March 30, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVEN'JORS CHARLES N. GRANVILLE, WILLIAM P. DALY 8.

Y OLIVER L. POULIOT their ATTORNEYS Sept. 10, 1968 C. N. GRANVILLE ET ALCOVERS FOR DUST MOP HEADS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 30, 1966 FIG. 9

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United States Patent 3,400,420 COVERS FOR DUST MOP HEADS Charles N.Granville, 30 Spoonwood Road, Wilton, Conn. 06897; William P. Daly, 123Chelsea Road, White Plains, N.Y. 10603; and Oliver L. Pouliot, 233Prospect Ave., Oradell, NJ. 07649 Filed Mar. 30, 1966, Ser. No. 538,71417 Claims. (Cl. 104.93)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE As described herein, there is provided adisposable dust mop cover which comprises an outer tubular liner adaptedto fit over the head of a dust mop. The liner is formed from relativelystrong paper, and the liner has on its bottom side a dust-collectingfacing of cleansing paper.

This invention relates to covers fitted over dust mop heads and used inlieu of such heads for dusting and other cleansing to thereby spare theheads from becoming soiled. More particularly, this invention relates tocovers of such sort which are disposable.

Proposed covers for dust mop heads have already been disclosed in U.S.Patents 2,075,345; 2,221,305; 2,226,424; 2,546,505 and 2,916,759.Insofar as is known, however, none of such proposed covers has enjoyedany commercial success for the probable reason that none of such covershas been marketable at low enough cost to gain acceptance by the buyerthat it is disposable, i.e., costs so little that it is not wasteful todispose of it as a whole as soon as it has become soiled. On the otherhand, a disposable dust cover has the advantages over a non-disposablecover of being more sanitary and more convenient to store, replace anduse. Moreover, to have the cover disposable avoids the need for keepingaround the house for a substantial time an object which becomesunsightly and must or should be washed.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide dust mopcovers which can be manufactured and sold cheaply enough to gainacceptance by buyers as being fully disposable covers.

Another object of this invention is to provide covers of such sort whichare structurally adapted for use with dust mop heads of differingconfiguration.

A further object of this invention is to provide dust mop coverscollapsible into a flat shape convenient for packaging and storage.

A still further object of the invention is to provide dust mop covershaving a germ-killing action.

These and other objects are realized according to the invention byproviding a dust mop cover comprised of an outer tubular liner adaptedto fit over the head of a dust mop. The liner is formed from relativelystrong paper, and the liner has on its bottom side a dust-collectingfacing of cleansing paper. Because the cover is constituted entirely ofpaper, it can be manufactured at a low enough cost and sold at a lowenough price to make it economically worthwhile to a consumer to treatsuch cover as being disposable when once it becomes soiled.

As another aspect of the invention, our cover is preferably of simpleflat rectangular form (when collapsed) and is formed from sheets ofpaper which are rectangular so that there is no wastage in cutting suchsheets from a web.

As a further aspect of the invention, our cover is preferably formedentirely from crepe paper so as to be elastically flexible to the pointwhere the cover is adapted to conform to and cling readily to dust mopheads of various shapes and sizes.

Moreover, according to another aspect of the invention,

ice

our cover is preferably impregnated with a bacteriostatic or germkilling agent.

For a better understanding of these and other aspects of the invention,reference is made to the following description of a representativeembodiment theerof and to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a panel from which a cover according to theinvention is made;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the panel of FIG. 1 after the same has beenfolded to form gussets and side flaps therein;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view in cross section of the panel at its FIG. 2stage, the view being taken as indicated by the arrows 3--3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the FIG. 2 panel after the side flaps thereofhave been folded and secured to each other to form an as yet incompletecollapsed dust mop cover;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the collapsed cover of FIG. 4 after a forwardend flap thereof has been folded over and secured to the upper sidethereof so as to close the front end of the cover;

FIG. 6 is a view in cross-section of the collapsed cover of FIG. 5, theview being taken as indicated by the arrows 6-6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view of a package comprised of a plurality of FIG. 5collapsed covers after they have been further folded to make them morecompact;

. FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of the FIG. 5 cover when expanded foruse by the insertion therein of the head of a dust mop; and

FIGS. 9 and 10 are views in cross-section of the expanded FIG. 8 cover,the cross-sections of FIGS. 9 and 10 being taken as indicated in FIG. 8by the arrows 9-9 and 1010, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a rectangular paper panel 10 is formed of arectangular sheet 11 of liner paper 12 and a rectangular sheet 13 ofcleansing paper 14. Sheet 13 forms a facing on the bottom side of sheet11 and is secured to that bottom by strips 15 therebetween of adhesive16 disposed just inside the edges of sheet 13. Adhesive 16 is aconventional dextrin type adhesive. The upper left-hand corner of sheet13 is shown lifted (to better illustrate strips 15) but is ordinarilymaintained flat against sheet 11 by the adhesive strips. As shown, sheet13 is longitudinally of about the same dimension as sheet 11 but islaterally of smaller dimension than sheet 11 and is centered betweenlaterally opposite side portions of the last-named sheet.

Because sheets 11 and 13 are rectangular, each may be cut from acontinuous paper web (not shown) without any scrap being left over.Thus, the rectangular form of panel 10 and of sheets 11 and 13eliminates any wastage of paper and implements manufacture of the coversby mass production methods.

The paper 12 of sheet 11 is conveniently provided by 22 lb./reambleached crepe kraft paper with wet strength and approximately 10%stretch. The paper 14 of sheet 13 is a softer textured bulkier paper as,for example, 20 lb./ream wet strength napkin stock. Like the liner paper12, the cleansing paper 14 is a crepe paper. The liner paper andcleansing paper complement each other in the following ways.

The cleansing paper 14 is a scratchless lint-free paper which because ofits relatively high bulk has a texture which is soft and somewhat fuzzyand well adapted to pick up dust. The tearing strength, however, of thepaper 14 alone is not as great as is desirable to avoid tearing, whenthe cleansing paper is rubbed vigorously against a dusty surface. 7

The liner paper 12 is less bulky than cleansing paper 14 and thus isharder textured and not particularly well 3 adapted to pick up dust. Thepaper 12 has, however, the high tearing strength lacking in paper 14.

The combining of both papers into the panel shown in FIG. 1 results in apaper structure which is better for dust cover purposes than either ofthe papers 12 or 14. That is, in the panel 10, the cleansing paper 14provides the good dust collecting capability which is lacking in theliner paper. The liner paper, in turn, provides good support for thecleansing paper in each of the lateral and longitudinal dimensionsagainst tearing of the cleansing paper or parting thereof from the linerpaper. In effect, the liner paper imparts to the cleansing paper thetearing strength it would not have alone, and the cleansing paperimparts to the bottom of the liner paper the dust collecting ability theliner paper would not have alone. In addition, the relatively greaterstiffness of the liner paper enables the folding and gluing of the totalstructure to be done at greater and more efiicient production speeds.

Because both papers 12 and 14 are crepe papers, the FIG. 1 panel as awhole is characterized by stretchability and elastic flexibility. Byelastic flexibility of the panel is meant that once the panel has beenformed into a selected shape (to be described), the panel as a whole orany portion thereof when displaced from that shape will resil ientlyoppose the displacing force so that, when such force is released, thecover will spring back or tend to spring back to original shape. Suchcharacteristic elastic flexibility is advantageous for reasons laterdescribed.

The papers 12 and 14 each has high wet strength to prevent the coverfrom disintegrating when brought into contact with moisture during use.The wet strength of the cleansing paper also serves the purpose ofpreventing its disintegration during application thereto of theimpregnant now to be described.

The stippling in FIG. 1 represents a chemical compound 20 transferred inliquid or spray form to the cleansing paper 14 by a roller, sprayer,wick, or the like. The compound 20 is constituted by 0.5% by weight of2.2 methylene bis-(3,4,6) trichlorophenol present in 99.5% by weight ofa carrier consisting of an inert oil the same as, or similar to mineraloil. The trichlorophenol constituent is an active and effectivebacteriostatic agent. Hence, in the course of a cleansing by the paper14, the paper has a germ-killing action of the surface or area beingdusted or mopped. Simultaneously, the oil carrier serves as an effectiveagent or magnet for dust. That is, the oil enhances the ability of thepaper 14 to collect and retain dust. While the compound 20 is applied asa liquid, it is quickly absorbed by paper 14. Hence, although afterabsorption, the

paper has a slightly slick or oily feel, in the finished cover I thepaper 14 is dry.

In the intermediate stage of forming the cover which is shown in topview and in cross-sectional view by FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively, thelaterally opposite side portions of panel have been folded and shaped toform a pair of longitudinally extending lateral side flaps 25a, 25b,which are joined to the bottom 26 of the panel by respective gussets 27aand 27b. Gusset 27a is comprised of upper and lower leaves 28a and 29ajoined together along a transversely central elastic hinge line 30a toform a longitudinally-extending normally reentrant angle on one lateralside of the cover. Leaf 29a is joined to cover bottom 26 along anelastic hinge line 31a, and leaf 28a is joined to side flap 25a at aline 32a which later becomes an elastic hinge line. The gusset 27b isconstructed similarly to gusset 27a. Elements of gussets 27b which arecounterparts of those of the left-hand gusset are indicated by the samereference numerals with different suffixes for those numerals.

As shown in FIG. 2 the upper portions of the side flaps 25a and 25binclude thin dextrin type adhesive strips 33a and 33b, respectively,which extend laterally from the top leaves of the gussets 27a and 27b tothe longitudinallyextending edges 35a and 35b of the side flaps.

It will be noted that gussets 27a and 27b are formed at a position suchthat side portions of the sheet 13 of cleansing paper are includedwithin the gussets and cover the outer sides of the leaves thereof. Tohave the cleansing paper extend over the outsides of the gussets isadvantageous as later described.

In FIG. 4, the side flaps 25a, 25b of FIGS. 2 and 3 have been foldedalong lines 31a, 31b up and over and back towards bottom 26 so thatrespective edges a and 35b of those flaps are in lapping relation witheach other. The forward end of folded side flap 25b is adhered to theforward end of the upward facing side of sheet 11 by strip 33b, and theforward end of side fiap 25a is adhered partly to said upward facingside of sheet 11 and partly to the lapping edge 3512 by strip 33a.

The lapping edges 35a, 35b form a laterally central seam 36 extendinglongitudinally from the front 37 to the rear 38 of the cover. As shown,the edges 35a and 3512 are bonded together from front 37 to a point 39by a dextrin type adhesive strip 40 on edge 35b. Hence, seam 36 isclosed from front 37 to point 39 and is open from point 39 to rear 38.FIG. 4 shows the upper right-hand corner of flap 25a as being lifted (tobetter illustrate strip 40) but it will be understood that, in practice,such corner is fiat and bonded to flap 2511 by the adhesive strip.

By virtue of the bonding together of lateral flaps 25a and 2512, theoriginal fiat sheet 11 (FIG. 1) has been converted into a collapsed tube(FIG. 4) of rectangular form. The tube 50 is clossed at its front end bya toe 49 formed in the manner shown by FIG. 5. That is, the forward partof the tube is first folded along line 51 to form an end flap 52extending laterally across the whole tube. Flap 52 is then foldedupwardly and over and back onto the upper surface 53 provided by theglued-together portions of flaps 25a, 25b. After being so folded, fiap52 is bonded to surface 53 by a dextrin type adhesive strip 54 depositedon that surface. The shown lifted corner of flap 52 is, in practice,fiat against surface 53 and bonded thereto by strip 54.

While the front end 37 of tube 50 is so closed as described, it will benoted that the rear end of tube 50 is transversely open across theentire lateral width of the collapsed tube.

The closing of the front end of tube 50 by the bonding of end flap 52completes the structure of a collapsed dust mop cover 60. As depicted inFIGS. 5 and 6, the collapsed oover is in the form of a flat rectangularenvelope with each leaf of each of the gussets 27a and 2711 being flatagainst the other leaf of the gusset and with each gusset forming adihedral reentrant angle between the top 53 and the bottom 26 of thecover 60. The described flat-envelope shape is the cover shape which ischaracterized by minimum elastic stress. Hence, that shape is the one towhich the elastically flexible cover tends to return when the wholecover or a portion thereof is caused to depart from flatness by aninternal displacement force developed, for example, by insertion of thehead of a dust mop into the cover.

Because of its flat-envelope shape, a cover is easily foldable along alateral center line into a rectangular flat article 71 which is more orless square. A plurality of such folded covers 71 is formed withoutspace wastage into a stack 72 (FIG. 7). The stack 72, in turn, isinserted into an outer rectangular container envelope 73 formed, say, ofa flexible transparent synthetic resinous material such as polyethylene.The insertion end of envelope 73 is sealed for merchandising purposesand is re-opened by the buyer to permit the contained covers 60 to bewithdrawn one by one. In this connection, it might be noted that thefilled container envelope 73 is of such shape that a number thereof areadapted to fit together with little space wastage into a conventionalrectangular packing carton. Hence, covers 60 of the sort described havean optimum shape for merchandising purposes and can be storedconveniently by the buyer.

As stated previously, by forming covers 60 from rectangular sheets ofpapers, the covers can be manufactured without any wastage whatever ofpaper. Moreover, because of the simple structure of the covers, the fewmanufacturing steps needed to form a finished cover from stock, and thelack of space wastage in packaging and shipping the covers, they aresaleable at a cost low enough so that it is not wasteful to throw awayeach cover as a whole after the cover has become soiled by use. Hence,the described cover 60 is a true disposable dust mop cover.

FIG. 8 shows dust mop cover 60 when transversely expanded by beingfitted over the head 80 of a dust mop. As illustrated the handle of themop is inserted through the open rear portion of the seam 36. Althoughcover 60 is of rectangular shape and mop head 80 is usually oftriangular shape, the cover elastically clings to and conforms to thehead to be held securely on the head by friction. The cover 60 isadapted to be frictionally maintained on dust mop heads of differingconfiguration (i.e., differing in size or shape or both) by virtue offeatures of the cover which will now be described.

First, while the front end of cover 60 is held closed by toe 49, therear end thereof is transversely expandable upon insertion of a mop headso that the cover becomes wedge-shaped in cross-section inlongitudinally-extending transverse planes therethrough. As shown byFIG. 8, such expansion of the cover to be of transverse wedge-shapedcross-section outline is permitted by an unfolding of the gussets 27a,27b which are held closed at the front by toe 49, but whichprogressively expand transversely (with accompanying elastic stressing)with distance away from toe 49. The transversely open rear end of cover60 and the rear open portion of seam 36 allow the rear part of cover 60to transversely expand to a much greater degree than if its back endwere closed and seam 36 were closed over its whole length. Hence, cover60 is adapted to accommodate dust mop heads which vary widely intransverse dimension. Also, because cover 60 is open at the rear, thecover is adapted to accommodate dust mop heads which are large inlongitudinal dimension relative to the length of the cover, and dust mopheads of all sizes are more easily insertable into the cover.

Second, because toe 49 holds gussets 27a and 27b closed at their frontends, the dimension d (FIG. 9) between the gusset central hinge lines30a, 30b at the front of the cover is substantially less than theseparation dimension d (FIG. 10), of those same hinge lines at the rearof the cover. Thus, in the longitudinally extending lateral centralplane of the cover, the interior thereof is in effect wedge-shaped. Byvirtue of being so shaped interiorly, the cover 60 is adapted to bettercling to and conform with the usual triangular mop head.

Third, because being made entirely of elastically flexible crepe paperand because being in a condition of minimum elastic stress when incollapsed or flattened form (FIGS. 5 and 6), the cover 60 whentransversely expanded by insertion of mop head 80 is of elasticallyclingy character. That is, when expanded, the cover tends to return toits flattened form and, in so tending, exerts on the inserted mop head aresilient displacement force which causes the cover to better grip thehead frictionally and, further to cause the several portions of thecover to better conform to the configuration of the head. An importantcontribution to the elastic flexibility of the cover is made by thegussets 27a and 27b which act as elastic hinges at each of their middle,lower and upper hinge lines (i.e., lines 30a, 31a and 32a for gusset27a). The other cover portions, however, are elastically flexible inthemselves and, therefore, also contribute to the elastic flexibility ofthe cover as a whole.

It is to be noted that full elastic flexibility of cover 60 depends onboth the liner sheet 11 and the cleansing sheet 13 being made of crepepaper or other paper characterized by elasticity so that both sheets areelastically flexible. If either one of the liner sheet 11 or the facingsheet 13 were inelastic, that sheet would detract from the overallelastic flexibility of the cover.

Ordinarily, the dust mop head is small enough in lateral dimension sothat, when the head is inserted in the cover, the gussets thereof remainreentrant. On occasion, however, the head is large enough in lateralsize to cause the angles of the gussets to reverse themselves so as tobecome salient from the cover. In that instance where the gussets bulgeoutwardly, the lower gusset leaves 29a and 2% face downwardly. Becausethe sheet 13 of cleansing paper 14 covers the outsides of those leaves,the result of the downward facing of the leaves 29a and 29b is toincrease the expanse of cleansing paper which is available for dustcollecting.

The above-described embodiment, being exemplary only, is to beunderstood that additions thereto, modifications thereof and omissionstherefrom can be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention, and that the invention comprehends embodiments differing inform and/or detail from that specifically disclosed. Accordingly, theinvention is not to be considered as limited save as is consonant withthe recitals of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A disposable cover for a dust mop head comprising a tubular liner inwhich said head is insertable, said liner being closed at its front endand having an opening therein for insertion of said head and beingchangeable in shape from a collapsed flat envelope to a transverselyexpanded container for said head, said liner being formed of linerpaper, and said cover further comprising a facing of soft textured,dust-collecting cleansing paper on the bottom of said liner andsupported both laterally and longitudinally by said liner againsttearing of said cleansing paper when rubbed against a surface to becleaned thereby.

2. A cover as in claim 1 wherein both said liner and said cleansingpaper are provided by crepe paper, said crepe paper being elasticallyflexible so as to render said liner elastically clingy and conformableto dust mop heads of differing configuration.

3. A disposable cover as in claim 1 in which the laterally oppositesides of said liner are comprised of respective reentrant gussetsextending longitudinally from the front to the rear of said liner, saidgussets being elastically expandable transversely so as to render saidliner elastically clingy and conformable to dust mop heads of differingconfiguration.

4. A cover as in claim 3 in which said gussets are held transverselyclosed at the front of said liner but are transversely expandable to aprogressively greater degree With distance rearward from said front,said gussets thereby imparting to said liner when transversely expandedan effective wedge shape both in longitudinally-extending transverseplanes and in the longitudinally and laterally extending central planeof said liner.

5. A cover as in claim 3 in which said facing of cleansing paper extendsup said sides of said liner and over said gussets to provide anincreased expanse of cleansing surface when said gussets are bulgedoutwardly by the insertion in said liner of a dust mop head of largelateral dimension.

6. A cover as in claim 1 in which said liner is rectangular in shape andin which an originally rectangular sheet of paper is folded and attachedalong overlapping portions of its folds to form said rectangular liner.

7. A cover as in claim 6 in which said facing of cleansing paper isprovided by a rectangular sheet of said cleansing paper.

8. A cover as in claim 1 in which the closed front end of said liner isformed by a forward end flap constituting part of said liner andextending laterally across the width of said liner, said flap beingfolded back upon and attached to the upper surface of the main body ofsaid liner.

9. A cover as in claim 1 in which said opening in said liner is providedby a laterally central seam extending longitudinally from the front tothe rear of said liner in the upper surface thereof, said seam beingclosed from the front of said liner part way to the rear thereof andbeing open for the remainder of the way to the rear of said liner.

10. A cover as in claim 1 in which the rear end of said liner istransversely open across the whole lateral width of said liner so as tofacilitate insertion in said liner of dust mop heads which are of largesize relative to that of said liner.

11. A cover as in claim 1 in which said facing of cleansing paper isimpregnated with a bacteriostatic agent.

12. A cover as in claim 11 in which said bacteriostatic agent is2,2-methy1ene-bis-(3,4,6)trichlorophenol.

13. A cover as in claim 11 in which said cleansing paper is alsoimpregnated with a dust-attracting agent.

14. A cover as in claim 1 in which both said liner paper and said facingof cleansing paper are resistant to deterioration by moisture.

15. A cover as in claim 1 in which said cleansing paper is bulkier thansaid liner paper so as to have lesser tearing strength but softertexture than said liner paper.

16. A disposable cover for a dust mop head comprising, a rectangularpanel comprised of a rectangular sheet of liner paper and a rectangularsheet of cleansing paper on the bottom side of said liner paper andattached thereto, said panel having longitudinally-extending laterallyopposite side flaps folded upwardly and over the bottom of said panel tolap edges with each other so as to form a tubular liner having alongsaid edges a laterally-central longitudinally-extending seam, said linerbeing closed at its front end by an end fiap forming part of said paneland extending laterally across the whole of said liner and folded overand secured to the upper liner surface provided by said side flaps, therear end of said liner being transversely open across the entire lateralwidth thereof, said lapping side flap edges forming for said liner alongitudinally-extending laterally-central seam in the top of saidliner, and said edges being secured to each other over a length of saidseam from the front of said liner part way to the rear thereof so as torender said seam closed over said length and open over the portion ofsaid seam which is rearward of said length.

17. A disposable cover for a dust mop head comprising, a tubular outerliner for said head, said liner being closed at its front end and havingan opening therein for insertion of said head, said liner being formedof liner paper, said cover further comprising a facing of soft-textureddust-collecting cleansing paper on the bottom of said liner, both saidliner paper and said cleansing paper being crepe paper which iselastically flexible to render said liner elastically clingy andconformable to dust mop heads of differing configuration, and saidcleansing paper being bulkier than said liner paper so as to have lessertearing strength but softer texture than said liner paper.

References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 26,151 l/l967 Duncan et a1.16l128 1,731,340 10/1929 Lambert 15227 X 1,756,408 4/1930 Walker et al15--227 2,087,209 7/1937 Lahey et al 16199 X 2,221,305 11/1940 Chase15-247 2,495,066 1/1950 Jones 15l04.93 3,231,918 2/1966 Marks 15-1043,248,041 4/1966 Burke 161-428 X 3,329,985 7/1967 Glowacki 15104 CHARLESA. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

L. G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner.

